The Outdoors Thread

[gotbeer]

So yeah.  I'm a phone nerd, and upgraded to the S24 Ultra.  So here are some shots I took at Griffith today.  Overall, the picture quality seems to have gone up.  Also had some fun with the AI.

Before AI.

After AI.  Noticed after I took the people out the bottom one's shadow remained.

This one, I couldn't remove the people for some reason.  It only allowed me to remove a whole section which really ruined the picture.  They might have been too far away? 

Original.

Took my peter pan out.  Didn't think it did a good job taking shadows out.  Notice how the white pipe is all distorted now.

Skyline.

Lake Hollywood.

Wisdom Tree Original.

AI.

Overall.  Pretty happy with the phone so far.  AI still needs more work.  But it just came out, so it's pretty much still in the Beta phase.  I'm thinking it will get more robust and better as time goes on.  it definitely does seem like there is more detail in everything. 

I'm going to try night shots when I go to Arizona in a few weeks. 

[gotbeer]

Comparing S22 to S24.

S24

S22

[Tank]

20 hours ago, gotbeer said:

Skyline.

wow, look at all that covid the gub'mint is dumping on us. jerks.

[gotbeer]

Some Palm Springs pictures.

Sunset.

And edited.

Sunrise this morning.

[gotbeer]

Darwinism.  Not all Asians are smart. Only an idiot would go hiking in the mountains before the mother of all storms.

Crews search for missing hiker on Mount Baldy

[gotbeer]

Darwin runner ups.  At least they were somewhat prepared.

Lost hikers rescued after spending frigid night on Mt. Baldy

Quote

“Because the hikers were equipped with a tent and sleeping bags, they were instructed to shelter in place overnight until SAR personnel could meet them and hike out with them,” authorities added.

 

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Morons. 

[arch stanton]

17 minutes ago, The Ghost of Bob Starr said:

Morons. 

Or are they really heroes who refused to give in to reality?

[katie]

I took this, outdoors, before the rain started last week 

 

 

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

On 2/7/2024 at 10:09 PM, arch stanton said:

Or are they really heroes who refused to give in to reality?

I’m going with morons. 

[gotbeer]

some pics of my weekend in Palm Desert and Quartzsite AZ.

Palm Desert.

Orions Belt

Jupiter

Sunrise Palm Desert

Quartzsite

Sunset/City Lights I think from Palm Springs, don't think Blythe could produce this much.

Stars in Quartzsite

Jupiter Quartzsite

Sunrise Quartzsite

Rained in the morning.  The hills north.

Dome Rock.  One day I'll climb it.

Dick pic.

Sunset Palm Desert

The setting moon.  Didn't get outside fast enough to get a better picture.

Sunrise, Palm Desert.

[gotbeer]

@PattyD22  Penalty was too light.  But at least something happened.

Father in gender-reveal that sparked fatal 2020 California wildfire has pleaded guilty

[PattyD22]

21 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

@PattyD22  Penalty was too light.  But at least something happened.

Father in gender-reveal that sparked fatal 2020 California wildfire has pleaded guilty

I completely agree @gotbeer.  I was actually on this fire with my LA County strike team and what the story fails to mention was that this US Forest Hotshot crew was based out of Big Bear, and one of the members of the crew who was supposed to be the Safety Spotter for the backfiring operation either fell asleep or just wasn’t paying attention to the operation that killed his Supervisor.

After the fatality, the young Hotshot crew member blamed himself for getting his leader killed and ultimately took his own life (it’s assumed he did since he disappeared and has not been seen for years).

So in reality, the stupidity of these individuals didn’t just kill one person, it ultimately resulted in 2 deaths, but they would never be able to make that charge stick.

Damn shame, the young firefighter who took his life was only 22 and a Big Bear kid.

Edited February 12 by PattyD22

[Tank]

39 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

@PattyD22  Penalty was too light.  But at least something happened.

Father in gender-reveal that sparked fatal 2020 California wildfire has pleaded guilty

Scafiddi said the couple had not, contrary to what’s been said publicly for years, hosted a gender-reveal party. He said it was a photo shoot to discover the baby’s gender with the couple, a few relatives and their children.

“To infer that it was a gathering of multiple people with food and celebration is simply incorrect,” he said. “This was simply taking photographs in what was a beautiful backdrop.”

 

thank goodness that the truth is finally coming out.

[PattyD22]

5 minutes ago, Tank said:

Scafiddi said the couple had not, contrary to what’s been said publicly for years, hosted a gender-reveal party. He said it was a photo shoot to discover the baby’s gender with the couple, a few relatives and their children.

“To infer that it was a gathering of multiple people with food and celebration is simply incorrect,” he said. “This was simply taking photographs in what was a beautiful backdrop.”

 

thank goodness that the truth is finally coming out.

Yeah thank God.  That’s makes it all OK when you put it that context, I suppose.

[Lhalo]

1 hour ago, gotbeer said:

some pics of my weekend in Palm Desert and Quartzsite AZ.

Palm Desert.

Orions Belt

Jupiter

Sunrise Palm Desert

Quartzsite

Sunset/City Lights I think from Palm Springs, don't think Blythe could produce this much.

Stars in Quartzsite

Jupiter Quartzsite

Sunrise Quartzsite

Rained in the morning.  The hills north.

Dome Rock.  One day I'll climb it.

Dick pic.

Sunset Palm Desert

The setting moon.  Didn't get outside fast enough to get a better picture.

Sunrise, Palm Desert.

One of the biggest flash floods I’ve wver experienced was in Quartzite coming back from Spring Training. Cars were spun out all over the road and shoulder. One BMW went down an embankment and landed in about 4 feet of water. Mother Nature doesn’t f around in the desert. 

[gotbeer]

23 minutes ago, Tank said:

 

“To infer that it was a gathering of multiple people with food and celebration is simply incorrect,” he said. “This was simply taking photographs in what was a beautiful backdrop.”

 

 

Photo shoot, with gender reveal pyrotechnics.

[katie]

My gender reveal was putting a pink bow emoji () on an Instagram post of me pregnant. 

[gotbeer]

Jupiter and the Moon tonight.  Couldn't get a clear picture of them together as the marine layer was preventing the homers.

[katie]

We used to have so much beach, now there’s barely any sand left 

Edited February 20 by katie

[Tank]

5 hours ago, katie said:

We used to have so much beach, now there’s barely any sand left 

katie, a friend of mine worked on oahu for several years. he said they would close the beach at waikiki at least once a year to bring in new sand. seems that the natural sand would get scooped up by tourists each year to take home as souvenirs, so they had to replenish it. 

best wishes to oceanside. i hope y'all get it fixed/healed.

[Redondo]

12 hours ago, katie said:

We used to have so much beach, now there’s barely any sand left 

@katie

How did the beaches south do in the storm?

Carlsbad, Leucadia and Solana?

[katie]

7 hours ago, Tank said:

katie, a friend of mine worked on oahu for several years. he said they would close the beach at waikiki at least once a year to bring in new sand. seems that the natural sand would get scooped up by tourists each year to take home as souvenirs, so they had to replenish it. 

best wishes to oceanside. i hope y'all get it fixed/healed.

Yeah they dredge once in a while and put the sand on the beach. We’ve just had so many king tides this year. 

Edited February 20 by katie

[katie]

38 minutes ago, Redondo said:

@katie

How did the beaches south do in the storm?

Carlsbad, Leucadia and Solana?

I can’t remember which city had a parking lot close because water came all the way up to it. Ocean Beach pier is completely closed now because of all the damage.

[katie]

July 2022 vs January 2024